And while this intro makes you dread the next 120 minutes, you begin to look back on those first minutes fondly, wishing that there was a bit more swash in these swashbucklers.

Based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, The Man in the Iron Mask is set in France in 1660. The king, Louis XIV (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a young and indifferent ruler. His citizenry is starving so that his soldiers will be well-fed for exercises in conquering other nations. When they complain, he offers them spoiling food, which pushes them to the brink of revolt.

However devoid of compassion, Louis XIV does have his loyal, brightly caped band of soldiers, the Musketeers, led by the respected D’Artagnan (Gabriel Byrne). They will keep the public at bay while the king calls on former Musketeer-turned-priest Aramis for a more permanent solution. Louis orders Aramis to find and kill an unknown Jesuit priest who has been stirring up the people of France. Aramis promises to do so, but since Aramis is the Jesuit priest, he opts for another, more complicated plan.

Gathering Porthos, Athos, and D’Artagnan, Aramis reveals that there is man who’s been locked in the Bastille for six years, a man whose identity is a mystery to most because of the iron mask he wears. That man is Phillippe (also played by DiCaprio), Louis’ twin who was spirited away as a newborn and then locked in the mask when Louis was crowned. Aramis lays out his plot to replace Louis with Phillippe, with only the parties involved aware of the switch. Athos, who blames Louis for his part in his son’s death, is all for it, as is Porthos, who, feeling a little long in the tooth, seeks the excitement of danger. D’Artagnan, however, is devoted to the king and will have none of it.

From left: Leonardo DiCaprio, Gabriel Byrne, and Edward Atterton

The exploits of the Musketeers have been presented in film many times. And Wallace, who wrote the screenplay for Braveheart, knows a thing or two about the men-and-war-and-valor equation. But Braveheart had the ultra-macho Mel Gibson, who no doubt reveled in the part of a crusader. The Man in the Iron Mask, however, has five chief players, some of whom don’t seem quite as convinced or as convincing, in so much as we are to be told that they are the greatest thing ever to hold an épée. Byrne and Depardieu fill their parts all right, but DiCaprio and Malkovich sometimes have trouble fitting their mouths around the lines they’re made to say. Plus, there is a need for more action, more of that legendary swordplay. There is one peculiar scene in which the skinny DiCaprio, while in the mask, takes up a sword so that he looks like a Q-Tip fighting for his life.